Confessions: From The Belly Of The Beast
by Raven Silvers
Summary: Fourth and final story in the Confessions series. When you need comfort, sometimes you find it in the most unlikely person.


**CONFESSIONS: FROM THE BELLY OF THE BEAST**

Mina was having a headache.

            She wasn't sure why, but all she knew that it was splitting her skull in two. She had snapped at Skinner and Tom already, both literally and metaphorically. The former refused to come into the room, and was somewhere around the great ship. Nemo had suggested that some rest would do wonders for her, and she had agreed and thus, was in her room, sitting at the table with her various chemicals and notes in disarray.

            Pushing up her glasses, Mina sighed and abandoned her work for now. She needed a nap. Actually, she believed she needed to feed, despite the controlling of her primal urges. Fresh blood usually did the trick, but since they were out at sea with no humanity in either direction, she decided it wasn't worth it as she sat down on the edge of her bed. She massaged her templates, pulling off her glasses and leaving them on the bedside cupboard. 

            Outside, she could hear the pattering of Skinner's feet as he chased Tom around. The American and him were more like kids now, and the last Mina saw of the two was Tom grabbing Skinner's trilby and taking off. On her way back to her cabin, she had seen the floating coat, greasepaint, gloves and prince-nez running after the Secret Service agent. 

            Mina closed her eyes, trying to block out the feeling that there were thousands of hammers knocking on the inside of her skull. It didn't work, and she pulled open the cupboard's drawer and popped a pill into her mouth. She always brought some first-aid around when she traveled. Pain killers were a first in her pack. This bottle she had gotten from a drugstore down the road from her house was of a different brand that what she usually used. She had no choice but to get it, since the stock hadn't come in.

            The medicine began to take effect, and she lay down on her bed. Soon, the drowsiness of the strong aspirin she had taken began to drawn on her... Unknown to her, her vampiric mind reacted to the medicine...She entered the realm of Jekyll and Hyde.         

* * *

            Henry Jekyll lay on his bed, studying the ceiling. His formal jacket was thrown, carelessly, so that it rested on the backrest of the nearby chair. Now, Jekyll was usually a neat person, a habit he picked up in medical school from a roommate. But today, he wasn't in the mood. 

            _What's wrong, Henry? _Hyde finally spoke. The monster had been silent all day. _You've been sitting like this all day. _

"Nothing," Jekyll said, closing his eyes. He saw Mina's face in his mind, the expression on her features when she had told them that Gray was dead...it had been blank, but in her eyes, Jekyll could see the pain, the grief and the anger. He had finally admitted the fact that Mina would never love him — her heart was still with that treacherous Gray. And for that, Jekyll was angry at himself. 

            What was Gray that he was not?  
            _It's her, isn't it? Hyde rumbled, Jekyll's last thought straying into the part of his head that Hyde resided in. The beast didn't need an answer — he knew it to be true. _What's all this about that vampire that's troubling you?__

"It's nothing, Edward," Jekyll whispered. "Nothing at all."

            _If you're one thing, Henry, you are a lousy liar. Of course it's her. It can't be anything else, can it? You're upset because she fell for that Gray instead of you, and when you saw her when she told all of you what had happened. She loved him, try as she might to deny it. She's hurting because he's gone for good._

"Yes," Jekyll murmured. "That's it. What did Gray have that I don't?"

            _Lots.__ This time, Hyde wasn't joking; the tone of his monstrous, booming voice said as much. He was serious, stating facts. __But you have things he didn't. _

Jekyll gave a humorless chuckle. "And what's that? I'm not rich, nor do I have the looks. I can't fight, and I can die."

            _But you also have a good heart, _Hyde reminded him. _You're loyal, which is more than what Gray can say. You don't betray those you think are your friends. _

Jekyll's eyes widened. Was Edward Hyde actually complimenting him?             

            _What's more, you're a good man, no matter how much I tell you otherwise, _Hyde continued. _You care for people, and what I do is almost too much for you to handle. That's why you work so hard to help people, Henry — it's in your nature. You're afraid to love because you're scared that one day, I'll get lose and hurt that person. You want to protect her from that, if it ever came to it. _

_            What's more, you can't fight for your life, but you can help others do so. You're a doctor, and you heal people. Remember when that bugger Skinner got himself fried to a crisp? He wouldn't have survived if you hadn't come up with that salve you used on the burns. He'd had died while in a coma. Now he's walking around and irritating everybody, as usual. You saved Nemo from that thing in the factory. _

"That wasn't me," Jekyll muttered. _It was **you! Hyde yelled loud enough to make the doctor wince.**__ It wasn't me; you'd already transformed back when you pushed him aside. You did that, Henry. Not me. Proves there still some courage left in you. _

"Mina doesn't see it, Edward. She doesn't, so what's the use of having it?" 

            _You don't see that she notices it. She respects you more now. Listen to me, Henry Jekyll. You are a good man, don't forget that. You have qualities that Gray never had, even at the end. Which is why Mina and the rest of 'em want you to stay._

"Edward," Jekyll said softly, "I never expected you to say something like that." Hyde snorted. _Don't bet on it. I can feel you brightening up. My job is done._

"Thank you, Edward," Jekyll whispered, closing his eyes. As sleep took him, he could hear Hyde's voice once more...

            _You're welcome. _ 

            

* * *

            Mina awoke suddenly, sitting up so quickly that the bed springs reacted, bouncing a little. She just sat there in bed for a bit. She had heard the conversation between the two parts of Henry Jekyll. She had heard Hyde speaking, had seen and heard Jekyll. Her heart thumped against her rib cage as the implications of what had happened set in. She glanced at the bottle of aspirin that sat, smug and innocent, on the cupboard next to her. Her headache was gone, and she grabbed the bottle and flushed its contents down the toilet. 

            The medicine was too strong, had reacted with her supernatural nature. She kept the bottle back in the little pouch the rest of her bandages and basic medical stuff were kept in. She looked at the far wall, the one the desk was pressed against. Jekyll and Tom were sharing the one next door. There was no one there, since Tom was running from Skinner and Jekyll was in the Infirmary. She could sense no one in the other room. She suspected that her dream of sorts was an earlier session from the journey back to London. She had been tuned in, because of that medicine.

            _Hyde has more depth than we think, _Mina thought._ Jekyll didn't only create a monster; he created something that he doesn't recognize Hyde to be: a friend._

* * *

A/N: And so ends the Confessions series. Fourth and final story — I pray this worked. Confessions is now officially over, but if you want, I can give you a Confessions story for Nemo, but I'm not sure _what to write for him. Hmm. Anything else to say? No, I guess. Oh, yes. I will be coming on during the weekends, so I will try to write one-shots during this two-day period. Reviews will also come during then, yeah?_


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